Sports

This weekend a woman in Seattle is trying to lift 290 pounds. She's a former Washington State Supreme Court justice. And she's also a member of the best women's masters powerlifting team in the country. Masters means over 40 years old. In two weeks, Faith and the rest of her team will defend their title at the USA Powerlifting Women's Nationals in Miami.

As the Super Bowl is played this weekend, we're not going to talk about the Steelers, the team that's favored to win the game. No, we're talking Arizona Cardinals. A team that no sane person would have predicted would be playing in the big game. Will Leitch is the founding editor of the sports web site Deadspin.com, and a true lifelong Arizona Cardinals fan.

Two frustrated coaches at Piedmont High School in Northern California were brainstorming ideas to keep their small team competitive. What they devised was a crazy new offensive strategy called the A-11 that took advantage of the "scrimmage kick" formation. If you have no idea what that is, you're not alone, but the A-11 strategy worked and the Piedmont Highlanders began winning. Is it the future of football?

This is the last weekend to go deer hunting in Wisconsin. Although hunting has been on the decline for the last decade in the rest of the country, it's been a fairly good year in Wisconsin for the sport. The economy's got everyone worried, and a deer or two can provide a lot of family meals. Deer hunting is something Sarah Lemanczyk knows well.

Is there a chill in the air yet, in your neck of the woods? Our nose hairs haven't frozen yet, but we're sure that treat is just around the corner.
Which can only mean one thing: winter! You still have a couple weeks until the official beginning (December 21st, to be exact) but here's a little primer for the season.

I drive along Route 9 as the sun dips behind the mountains. I'm looking for two runners - Nate Sanel and John Lacroix - who are somewhere along this road, on their way to running 124 miles across the state of New Hampshire. Or at least, attempting to do so. When I finally spot them, they're 12 hours and 60 miles into their run - almost half-way done.

We've been doing a series of stories called "Garageland" about the things Americans like to do in their garages. Garages are places where we tinker, dream and create. Today's story is about a guy who does all that, plus he goes 150 miles per hour. Weekend America's Sasha Aslanian explains.

Weekend America host John Moe has always been a fan of the Seattle Supersonics basketball team. But this year, his team moved away and changed their name. So now John is a free agent. Free to sign as a fan with any team in the league. One of the worst things about the Supersonics' demise was that thousands of Sonics fans were completely powerless in the transaction. But maybe, just maybe, this fan can empower himself and turn the tables on the NBA.

This weekend, there's some heavy action at the Rock Steady Gym in Indianapolis. A lot of folks are punching bags and flinging left jabs and right hooks. The difference is that folks in these weekend classes have Parkinson's disease, a neurological disorder that about 1.5 million people in the U.S. Reporter Colleen Iudice recently met the founder of Rock Steady and tells us his story.

This weekend at the Home Depot Center near Los Angeles, there will be some very passionate soccer fans on hand to watch team Chivas USA take on Real Salt Lake in the Major League Soccer playoffs. Most Chivas fans are Mexican-American, but the team has struggled to find its identity in the United States. It even has two rival fan clubs. Weekend America's Charlie Schroeder explains.

At various points along the New York City marathon route this weekend, runners will hear everything from bagpipes, hip hop, rock and jazz fusion to a high school band playing the theme from "Rocky." The focus is naturally on the runners, but the dozens of musicians who show up are posted along the route to entertain onlookers and lift the runners' spirits.

It's time to open the Weekend America mailbag and hear your responses to recent shows. This week, host John Moe learns about whether there's any way to determine world records in endurance sailing. Also we hear your responses to last week's segments on race and forgiveness at a Michigan church, and our essay from a college teacher forced to sell her books to buy food.